Deluge and Rapture
by IronRaven
Summary: Knight or nave, champion or thief. No longer an Acolyte, Remy must choose his fate, and along the way, perhaps steal something important- a past lost to madness and a life twisted by grief. Redemption takes many forms.


**Deluge and Rapture**  
><strong>by Ironraven, edited by BabyBeaver<strong>

First, a note on timing. I have Kurt, Kitty and Rogue graduating the spring of 2005. The reasons for this are multiple. Dark Horizon aired the fall of 2003, so that puts Scott and Jean graduating that spring, along with Apocalypse showing up and Rogue's apparent killing of what is left of Mystique (pity it was just a stone). So, jump forward some to Cajun Spice. That is during Marde gras, which is early spring, so thus 2004, with the final fight with Apocalypse (A-Day, as I call it) being later that spring. That put's Laura's return to the Institute, followed by Remy's, later in the same year. And Hurricane Katrina came  
>calling that fall as well.<p>

I know it's a long intro note, but time frame is important. Wow... seven years ago...

This starts after Cajun Spice...

_-neXt_

"Remy, now dat' yo' back, we can end dis damn war! Yo friend's, dey'd help you, no?"

"No, Henri, dey won't." Remy didn't look up from the lock pick he was making. The sliver of steel was locked in a vise while strong, long, supple fingers guided the file. "Dey not like dat."

"Den what good are dey, brother?" Henri LeBeau's arms crossed over his chest. Some friends, they wouldn't help a man who was locked in a war with scum like the Assassins Guild.

"Dat is exactly what dey are. Dey are good."

Henri snorted, shaking his head. "Father said you was taken wid one of dem. But you can never touch her? Gambit," he sneered the street name Remy had taken when he left home, "dat's crazy talk. Can no touch a girl." He snorted.

"She did touch Remy." Remy looked up, his eyes filled with truth and trust in someone far away. "Cheri, she pull de devil outta me. Just her touch, dat all it took. If'n you ever fin' a girl like dat, you understand. Till den, don't talk 'bout someone you never met like dat."

And the thing was, he meant it. From the moment Remy laid eyes on her, he meant it. He'd raised a powerful load of hell since leaving New Orleans, that was why Magneto hired him. It had been the lure of money that took him to New York- well, New Jersey really, but he told people he'd been in New York. He'd enjoyed a lot of it, but he drew the line at killing or anything hurting women or kids- the thing with Wanda, sure it had been to try to help her, but it left him feeling dirty.

Sure, Remy liked girls. Remy really liked girls. He'd been with more than a few, some for sport, some to use as cover, but they'd all had at least as much fun as he had. But the first time he saw her, he... got stupid. Inside, in his head. No girl had hit him like that.

She kissed him. She could have just grabbed him like she had with Sabertooth or Pyro, but even in a trance like that, she kissed him. Damn near thought he was gonna die, but it was a good kiss. Just a little peck on the lips, no tongue, no body grinding. Just a kiss, honest and pure and trusting. He couldn't remember when he'd had girl kiss him, not the other way around, much less when it was so innocent. So true.

And yes, he'd kidnapped her. Part of him had been screaming at him not to do it, and the other part was seeing him on a white motorcycle, white coat, staff in hand, trying to save the damsel. It was at that moment, he knew it was official: Remy had gone around the bend. He'd never felt like that. She'd been mad with him. She'd hit him, twice. She hadn't even been afraid of being blown up on a freight train doing seventy. She was as fearless and brave as he was, but she was fragile, to.

Yep. Remy could no lie about this. He was confused by Rogue, dazzled, changed and in love.

And that was why he hated what he was doing. He was getting ready to rob someone. Not just anyone, but a pharmaceutical warehouse. Maybe he could deal with it if what Jean Luc had in mind was antibiotics or vaccines that were being controlled by some oil land warlord and they were selling to the underground so that it's people could get them. Or some drug that people needed but couldn't afford. But stealing pain killers. Yeah, pain killers, sure. Damnit, Remy hated drug dealers, hated what they did to the streets of his beloved N'Orlens- they had no respect for the old ways of the Guilds. So why the hell was he getting ready to help put drugs out there- he wouldn't be dealing, oh no, nothing retail, he was going to be wholesaling.

Then they'd flip that money to buy weapons from someone at HammerLabs. To fight the Rippers- the feud between Assassins and Thieves had gone on most of a century and helped keep the mobs and the cartels if not out of this part of the country it at least held them in check. Everyone was acting like a bunch of mad dogs now, trying to end it.

"Hey, Remy. Anyone home?" Jean Luc waved the letter in front of his adopted son's eyes.

"Ah, he's just daydreaming about that fille again."

The Master of Thieves laughed. "If'n I was twenty years younger, I'd be daydreamin' 'bout her to. Remy, 'dis came for you at Rusty's."

Remy took the envelope. Rusty's was a bar, a divey kind of bar, but the Theives used it as a poste de resturante. Messages could be sent there for them and they'd catch up when a Theif stopped in. He pulled out the letter, it was brief. He could recognize the handwriting immediately, the cyrillic flourishes and curls that Colossus tried to force on the latin letters. He frowned a little- that meant Piotr was still having trouble getting back to Russia, his plan was to stay in Little Odessa in Brooklyn until he could get good papers. There was a job, a good job, a "right job". No Victor, no Saint John (Piotr spelled it phonetically, Sinjin). If he wanted in, he had to call a phone number before the deadline, and be ready for Egypt.

Remy hadn't been ignoring the news. He could go back to Egypt, sure. And maybe Rogue would be there to, with her family. He'd liked being on the same side as her, even if only for a little while. And Colossus. Even that uptight Summers chump and those clowns Magneto's kids hung out with. Not much of a job, just save the world. He rather liked the idea of a waking up in the morning with a clear conscious. They'd all been there, at the beginning. Be right to have everyone there at the end.

He read the letter again. His fingers tightened, crumpling the sheet.

"What is it Remy?"

Gambit shook his head. "It's nothing." He gave it a little charge, just enough for the paper to burn. He forced his voice to stay even. "Don' mean a thing."

The deadline had been yesterday.

He picked up the file again.


End file.
